(Minghui.org) Since the persecution of Falun Gong began in July 1999, Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison has been using all kinds of torture on local practitioners wrongfully convicted for their faith and jailed there. 

Most of the practitioners incarcerated in the prison are elderly women serving three years or more. Between January and April 2022, at least 14 practitioners were taken to the prison, where they are now tortured every day. Ms. Liu Lijie is one such example. The former school teacher was arrested on October 14, 2020 and sentenced to 3.5 years. She was transferred to the prison on February 18, 2022. She has since been brutally tortured, including being forced to sit on a small stool from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m. with no breaks. She was also forced to watch videos that slandered Falun Gong. Because she refused to give in, the guards forced all 21 other inmates in the same cell to sit with her and watch the videos in order to make them hate her.

In the past two years, the prison authorities have also been using the pandemic as an excuse to impose a new form of persecution, that is, denying the practitioners’ family visits and barring them from receiving packages or remittance of money to their commissary accounts, which has prevented them from receiving or buying essential items such as food, toilet paper, bedding, toiletries and tableware. 

Prior to the pandemic, the practitioners have already faced the tough situation of not getting enough essential items, which are sold at marked up prices in the prison. Many did not have enough to eat. The new financial cut-off only makes their situation more precarious. 

Related reports:

Ongoing Torture and Brainwashing of Falun Gong Practitioners in Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison

Heilongjiang Woman Serving Time for Her Faith Forced to Sit on a Small Stool for Long Hours Every Day

Heilongjiang Women’s Prison Orders Inmates to Drug Falun Gong Practitioner